Over the summer of 2024, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order initiating a phone-free policy in schools K-12. This executive order said that public school divisions should adopt local policies and procedures establishing phone-free education. Essentially, this means that school districts should each create what they feel is best for their students, while also keeping phones out of students’ hands during instructional time. 

Osbourn High School decided to put phone boxes (or phone homes) in each classroom. Students are required to put their phones in the boxes at the beginning of each class. The reason why Osbourn chose the phone homes is because some students don’t follow the ‘off and away’ expectation, and it requires less time and funds than other options. “I had run a pilot study with a cohort of students at my last school collecting data on the process of collecting phones vs. the ‘off and away’ expectation. At the end of the study, we determined that the classes where phones were collected had fewer phone-related disciplinary infractions which caused an interruption to instruction. And on top of that, the students shared anecdotal data that they were more engaged in the lessons and felt more confident on the material covered when the phones were collected. The teacher also reported higher levels of engagement among students in her classroom. For our specific model I then researched the costs of a variety of collection methods including the Yondr pouches vs the collection box and for a large school with over 2000+ students who needed phones collected at one time the method we went with seemed to be the most time efficient as well as cost-effective,” said new OHS principal Dr. Jennifer Chapman.

Expectedly, this policy at Osbourn High School was met with mixed reactions from students. “I feel that the new policy is overly restrictive and definitely a waste of time. We now waste time at the end of class with phone breaks and when putting them in the box at the beginning of class,” said freshman Gregory Brow.

“This school year I’m doing okay with the new phone policy. It is just the fact that they need to understand that not all students use their phone like that and actually need it for school information and student-athletes need to text their parents to keep them updated and more. Last school year I felt more comfortable with my phone because I could text my parents and keep them updated with my sports and if I needed anything they could bring it,” said Graidys Rivera.

Some students even expressed that they felt strong emotions when first hearing about the policy. “I heard it during the orientation and my reaction was anger and frustration because I don’t trust this policy, someone can just steal it without you knowing, I just don’t trust it,” added freshman Adam Ivan Pedersen. (Editor’s note: The phone boxes do lock, so phones actually are safe if the teachers lock the boxes.)

Even though the students at Osbourn have mixed feelings, most of the teachers have indicated that they’re happy with the new policy. “I’m relieved that we have a policy and that it’s being enforced. I feel like phones were a huge problem last year,” said journalism teacher Ms. Miller.

“When my students are more attentive, I am more interested in teaching. We are having better conversations because they are actually listening and not distracted. Assignments are being completed much faster, so we are able to put and get through more material,” said Mr. Zenewicz. 

However, some teachers would want to make this policy more lively by making their phone homes more appealing to the eye and exciting. “I would love to do that, like add stickers on my phone box,” said world history teacher Mr. Johnson.

Ms. Miller has expressed that in past years, some students would be on their phones constantly because there was no enforced schoolwide policy. This caused some students to be distracted from their schoolwork. “I feel like this new policy helps my classmates focus in school, for sure,” added sophomore Ashley Carranza.

“Students were too distracted by their phones, it hurt both their engagement in learning and their engagement in class culture,” said Zenewicz.

When freshmen were asked about the statement made above, they disagreed that phones were a distraction for students, because there was more of a schoolwide policy at Metz last year, compared to Osbourn. “I don’t think the new phone policy helps me focus more. I need music to manage myself in class,” said freshman Briyanna Moody. 

“I feel less productive because I’m not able to listen to music and I get left with nothing to do after I finish my work and I feel it’s unfair I get my phone taken just because other people can’t stay off their phones,” said Kimberly Martinez.

In the eyes of certain students, the policy doesn’t affect their day in Osbourn and they can go the whole period with the policy in place. “It is possible for me to not use my phone the whole period because I already do so,” said freshman Johan Ariel Claros Maldonado.

The policy has had some extremely positive impacts by helping students focus and participate, ultimately leading to a better experience for the teacher and students. “This policy has made me able to participate better with more people because there is nothing to distract us from not participating,” said Ariel Claros Maldonado.

“The pros about it being a policy are that when students use their phones less during class they become more engaged and involved with their work and participation. They are also starting to get better grades without having a distraction,” said Brianna Reyes.

Although a percentage of the school doesn’t mind the new policy, there are some things that students would change about it. “If I could change something about the policy, it would be how we have to give up our phones. Instead, we could keep our phones in our backpacks and teachers could only take it if they see a student using their phone in class,” said freshman Rosa Brizuela.

“I feel like I see why phones are a distraction but we should be old enough to be able to put them in our own backpacks and have our own way of listening. If people want an education they can and if not they can do what they want and it’s on them if they fail but we should be able to be mature and put our own property away,” said Jaylan Bowman.

Other students had concerns about what would happen if an emergency occurred. “In case of an emergency and the teacher is unresponsive, doesn’t have a key, or whatever, it would be bad to not have access to our phones; otherwise I think it’s pretty good policy,” said freshman Aiyana Manns.

“The cons about it being a policy is our safety, being able to contact our parents in a dangerous situation is essential. It also takes too long to put our phones in and out of the box,  it’s also pointless because nobody gives it up anyways,” said Reyes. 

Even though this policy has some positive impacts on students and teachers, it could waste some precious time for teachers since it takes some time to collect and pass out the phones to students on time. “It probably takes five minutes just because during the ‘do now,’ they would still be doing the same thing regardless. So really, I think it’s just the end of class where I lose some time, lose maybe five or six minutes because I have to pass phones back. I used to teach bell to bell, so I always have to stop like three to five minutes early to make sure kids get their phones back in time. But other than that, I’m not really losing much time. The only other issue is third period when I have to collect and distribute them four times. So that’s losing a lot of class time. I don’t like to do it third period and if I could, I wouldn’t collect them before lunch, I would just collect them after lunch because we have second lunch,” said English teacher Mr. Nejame.

Overall, most students seem to comply with the policy, although there are exceptions. “All of my teachers tell us to give up our phones, although some students don’t give them up and tell the teacher that they don’t have a phone or that they left it at home,” said Brizuela.

So what do you think about the new policy? Is it too strict or is it necessary for students to learn?